Government source: Ashcroft to allow telecast of execution

Published: Thursday, April 12, 2001

WASHINGTON {AP} Attorney General John Ashcroft has decided to allow Oklahoma City bombing survivors and victims' families watch the execution of Timothy McVeigh on a closed-circuit telecast, a government official said Wednesday.

Survivors and families will be able to watch the telecast in Oklahoma City, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Ashcroft was expected to announce his decision Thursday.

McVeigh, 32, is set to be executed by lethal injection at a federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., on May 16. About 250 survivors and family members relatives told Ashcroft at a meeting Tuesday that they want to be able to see McVeigh die.

There are only eight places available for victims' witnesses at the penitentiary.

On Tuesday, Ashcroft said, "I'm going to do what I can to accommodate the needs of these families."

The official said Ashcroft was expected to announce that, after considering the wishes of the families, he had decided that the government should allow the closed-circuit telecast. It will be the first execution carried out by the U.S. government since 1963.

Justice Department officials declined to comment.

Jim Cross, Terre Haute prison executive assistant, said he had not received officials word that the telecast had been approved, adding that the prison has begun to make preparations in case the closed-circuit feed is allowed.

Jannie Coverdale, whose two grandsons were killed in the attack, said she would be "elated" with the decision.

"This is something I've wanted to watch," said Coverdale.

McVeigh has said he is not opposed to a closed-circuit telecast and has suggested that his execution should be televised nationally. In a letter to The Daily Oklahoman, McVeigh said that, to provide equal access, the government should "hold a true public execution  allow a public broadcast."

Ashcroft was also expected to address the question of whether McVeigh should be allowed to do television and radio interviews during his final days. NBC News, which first reported Ashcroft's decision to allow the telecast, said McVeigh would not be permitted to give any further interviews for broadcast on radio or television.

Media outlets are clamoring to get interviews with McVeigh, who faces execution for the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil  the April 19, 1995, bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people.

McVeigh did 75 hours of interviews with two newspaper reporters who have written a book, "American Terrorist." The book created a stir because in it McVeigh appeared to show no remorse.

"I understand what they felt in Oklahoma City. I have no sympathy for them," he said.

Ashcroft has said he doesn't want to give McVeigh any "tools" to voice his views.

"There are obviously ways that we can implement that minimize the ability of this convicted terrorist, murderer, to make his points," said Ashcroft on Tuesday.